Luận văn thạc sĩ UEB impacts of information technology to value chain in english teaching centers

Impacts of Information technology

to value Chain in ENGLISH TEACHING

cENTERS

by

TRAN THI THUY VAN

SEPTEMBER 2004

ii

Impacts of Information technology to value

Chain in ENGLISH TEACHING CENTERS

A THESIS SUBMITTED TO

THE HANOI SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

OF

THE VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

BY

TRAN THI THUY VAN

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

SEPTEMBER 2004

iii

Approval of the Hanoi School of Business

Truong Gia Binh

Dean

I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of

Master of Business Administration.

President, Examination Committee

This is to certify that we have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully

adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Master of Business

Administration.

Nguyen Viet Anh

Co-Supervisor

Roger Ford

Supervisor

Examination Committee Members

(Title and Name in alphabetical

order of last name)

............................... _____________________

............................... _____________________

............................... _____________________

............................... _____________________

............................... _____________________

iv

ABSTRACT

Impacts of Information technology to

value Chain in ENGLISH TEACHING CENTERS

TRAN THI THUY VAN

MBA, Hanoi School of Business

Supervisor : Mr. Roger Ford

Co-Supervisor: Mr. Nguyen Viet Anh

September 2004

This thesis analyzes the strategies of the English Centers to gain competitive

advantage in the technology age.

Keywords: Strategy, Competitive Advantage, Value Chain, Internet, Information

Technology, English Centers…

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TÓM TẮT

ẢNH HƯỞNG CỦA CÔNG NGHỆ THÔNG TIN TỚI

CHUỖI GIÁ TRỊ CỦA CÁC TRUNG TÂM TIẾNG ANH

Trần Thi Thuý Vân

Hướng dẫn 1: Mr. Roger Ford

Hướng dẫn 2: Mr. Nguyễn Việt Anh

Tháng Chín 2004

Bản luận văn này phân tích chiến lược của các Trung tâm Tiếng Anh để đạt được lợi

thế cạnh tranh trong thời đại công nghệ thông tin.

Từ khóa: Chiến lược, Lợi thế cạnh tranh, Chuỗi giá trị, Internet, Công nghệ thông

tin, Trung tâm Tiếng Anh

vi

To My Parents

vii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I express sincere appreciation to Mr. Roger Ford, Mr Nguyen Viet Anh and Mr. Ha

Nguyen for their guidance and insight throughout the research. Thanks go to the

other faculty members, Professor Roger Ford, Mr. Jubin Kapur, Ms. Tran Phuong

Lan, Dr. Ta Ngoc Cau, Mr. Meghnad Shetty for their suggestions and comments.

The assistance of Ms. Huyen Huong, and Ms. Phuong Thao is gratefully

acknowledged. To my parent , I offer sincere thanks for their unshakable faith in me

and their willingness to endure with me the vicissitudes of my endeavors.

viii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................

LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................

2.1. COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

2.2. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND COMPETITIVE

ADVANTAGE ..............................................................................................

2.3. VALUE CHAIN ...............................................................................

2.3.1. What is value chain? .................................................................

2.3.2. Impact of Information Technology on Value Chain ...............

2.4. DIFFERENTIATION

METHODOLOGY .........................................................................................

3.1. RESEARCH PROBLEM

3.2. RESEARCH OBJECTIVE

3.3. RESEARCH METHOD

3.4. RESEARCH STRATEGY

3.5. SAMPLE SELECTION

3.6. DATA COLLECTION

3.7. DATA ANALYSIS ...........................................................................

EMPIRICAL DATA PRESENTATION .....................................................

4.1. ENGLISH TRAINING IN VIETNAM

4.2. CASE STUDY ONE – LANGUAGE LINK VIETNAM

4.2.1.

4.2.2. Information technology in Language Link .............................

4.2.3.Value Chain and Information Technology ..............................

4.2.4.Differentiation and Information Technology ..........................

4.3. CASE STUDY TWO – SITC

4.3.1.

4.3.2. Information technology in SITC ..............................................

4.3.3. Value Chain and Information Technology ..................................

4.3.4. Differentiation and Information Technology ..........................

4.4. CUSTOMER SAMPLE RESEARCH

University ..................................................................................................

Item ...........................................................................................................

DATA ANALYSIS .........................................................................................

5.1. Q UANLITATIVE .................................................................................

5.1.1. Information technology and Value Chain ...............................

ix

5.1.2. Source of differentiation..........................................................76

5.2. QUANTITATIVE....................................................................................80

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS...................................................81

6.1. FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATION ON

RESEARCH QUESTIONS......................................................................81

6.2. IMPLICATIONS............................................................................83

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1 – The age of the students in the Sample.............................................66

Table 2- Places of students..............................................................................67

Table 3 - The students from Universities........................................................68

Table 4 – Student’s expense for learning English...........................................69

Table 5 – The need for communicating English..............................................69

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1. Porter’s Generic Value Chain ...........................................................

Figure 2 - The Value System (Porter) ..............................................................

Figure 3 - Virtual Value Chain.........................................................................

Figure 4 - Comparison of Transmission Mediums ..........................................

Figure 5 - Traditional view of the value chain .................................................

Figure 6 - The Value Chain with the customer ................................................

Figure 7 - Source of Differentiation in the Value Chain..................................

Figure 8 - Virtual Value Chain for Language Link Vietnam. ..........................

Figure 9 - Source of Differentiation in the Value Chain in Language Link Vietnam

..................................................................................................................

Figure 10 - Virtual Value Chain for SITC ......................................................

Figure 11 - Source of Differentiation in the Value Chain in SITC ..................

xii

VITA

Ms. Tran Thi Thuy Van received her B.A. degree in Foreign Trade from the Vietnam

National University (VNU) in July 2000. She worked in a Joint Stock Company as

an accountant and a project Manager assistant from 2001 to 2002. At the period of

learning full-time MBA Program in Hanoi School of business, she has participated

in a number of projects at Vietnam Country Gateway Project funded by World

Bank, Vietnam Competitiveness Initiative Project funded by USAID, Citibank

(United States), Soil and Water Ltd (Finland)…

1

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1. Competitive Advantage

Competitive advantage is important for companies to perform in competitive

market. Competitive determines the appropriateness of a firm’s activities that can

contribute to its performance, such as innovations, culture, or good implementation.

There are two basic kinds of competitive advantage: cost leadership or

differentiation. Competitive advantage in either cost or differentiation is a function

of a company’s value chain.

A company’s cost position reflects the collective cost of performing all its value

activities relative to rivals. Each value activity has cost drivers that determine the

potential sources of a cost adavantage. Some firms view the differentiation in

physical product or marketing practices, but differentiation should be viewed from

anywhere in the value chain.

1.2. Competitive Advantage and Information Technology

Recently, entrepreneurs, executives, investors and industries in worldwide as well as

in Vietnam has paid much attention on E-business and E-commerce. With the help

of information technology, the processes and operations of businesses can be

shortenned. The Internet has offerred not only the advantage of low cost but also

provide the smooth and linkage between different business activities. Many

organizations worldwide has integrate Internet technology to redesign their business

processes in ways that can strengthen their competitive advantages.